The
Department of Posts, which forms a part of the Ministry of
Communications and Information Technology, is responsible for the
planning, development, expansion of operation and maintenance of Postal
Services in the country. It also discharges certain agency functions in
respect of Savings Bank and other Small Savings Schemes, collection of
customs duty on Postal articles and disbursement of pension to Military
and Railway pensioners, Family pension to Industrial Employees of Coal
Mines etc.
The Department administers Postal Life Insurance for the benefit of
Postal, Telecom and other Central Govt. Employees and Employees of State
Governments, Public Sector Undertakings, Nationalized Banks and Local
bodies etc. Planning and Policy-making at Headquarters. The Postal
Services Board is the apex management body of the Department, comprising
the Chairman (who is also the Secretary, Department of Posts and
Director General) and six Members. The six members of the Board hold
functional portfolios of Operations, Personnel, PLI, HRD, Technology
and Planning. The Joint Secretary and Financial Advisor to the
Department is a permanent invitee to the Board. The Secretary, Postal
Services Board, assists the Board. Deputy Directors General, Directors
and Assistant Directors General provide necessary support to the Board
at the Headquarters.
Postal Circles For providing postal services, the whole country has
been divided in to 22 Postal circles extending postal services to 30
States and 6 UTs. Each circle is co-terminus with a State except (i) the
North Eastern Circle, which comprises six North Eastern States, (ii)
Maharashtra circle which includes Goa, (iii) West Bengal Circle includes
Sikkim and the Union Territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands, (iv)
Kerala circle includes the Union Territory of Lakshadweep and Mahe
District of Puducherry (UT), (v) Punjab Circle includes the Union
Territory of Chandigarh, (vi) Gujarat circle includes Daman, Diu, Dadra
and Nagar Haveli (UT), (vii) Andhra Pradesh Circle includes Telangana
State and (viii) Tamil Nadu Circle includes Union Territory of
Puducherry ( Except Mahe District).
The Chief Postmaster General heads each Circle. Each Circle is
divided into Regions comprising groups of field units, called Divisions
(Postal / RMS Divisions). Each Region is headed by a Postmaster
General. In the Circles , DAP and Regions, there are other functional
supporting logistics units like Circle Stamp Depots, Postal Store
Depots and Mail Motor Service.
Army Postal Services Over and above these 22 Circles, the communication
needs of the armed forces are catered to by the Base Circle. Base
Circle is headed by the Additional Director General, Army Postal
Service. The officer cadre of Army Postal Services is drawn on
deputation from the Indian Postal Service. 75 % of the other ranks of
the Army Postal Service are drawn from the Department of Posts and the
remaining personnel are recruited by the Army.
Operational Units:-There are 21 GPOs presently functioning in the
country. They are: Hyderabad (Andhra Pradesh Circle), Guwahati (Assam
Circle), Patna(Bihar), Delhi (Delhi), Ahmedabad (Gujarat), Ambala
(Haryana), Shimla (Himachal Pradesh),Sri Nagar (Jammu& Kashmir),
Ranchi (Jharkhand),Bangalore (Karnataka),Thiruvanantapuram (Kerala),
Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh),Mumbai (Maharashtra),Shillong(North
East),Bhubaneswar Orissa), Chandigarh(Punjab), Jaipur
(Rajasthan),Chennai(Tamil Nadu), Dehradun (Uttrakhand), Lucknow Uttar
Pradesh) and Kolkata (West Bengal Circle).
Kausik chennai: Rafi Ahmed Kidwai National Postal Academy (RAKNPA),
Ghaziabad is the Apex Training Institution and caters to the training
needs of the managerial cadres of India Post. It conducts induction
training of Indian Postal Service officers and mid-carrier training
programmes for Indian Postal Service officers. It also conducts
Induction Training for Gr.`B‟ officers besides some specialized need
based training's on technology, Marketing and other fields of
importance.
There are six Postal Training Centers at Darbhanga, Guwahati, Madurai,
Mysore, Saharanpur and Vadodra. These Training Centres cater to the
training needs of Inspectorial cadre (Inspector Posts/Assistant
Superintendents of Posts) and all Gr. `C‟ employees (Postal
Assistants/Sorting Assistants. They also conduct induction training for
the Inspector Posts and for Postal Assistants/Sorting Assistants.
383 Workplace Training Centres (WTCs) in circles are operational.
These WTCs cater to the training needs of various categories of staff
near their work place.
There are also 5 Zonal Training Centres (ZTCs) which cater to training
needs of the Postal Accounts Personnel. Engineering wing comprising of
Architectural, Civil and Electrical Engineering disciplines is entrusted
with design and construction of all Major & Minor building
projects and maintenance of buildings in the Department.